Paul Tindal, NetSuite Consultant, 2016 Tech Predictions

1) Cyber Crime. The spate of cyber-attacks on publicly listed companies at the end of 2015 will have jolted the business population at large into action. SMEs in particular will start to take the threat more seriously from 2016. For most this will include a serious rethink about the cloud. People will lose their irrational fear about cloud being less secure because it feels so – and get to grips with the fact that on premise isn’t a utopia of security. The answer really lies with properly researching your potential cloud partners and understanding where your biggest risks lie. For example, a disgruntled employee is a more likely form of attack than an external source.

2) Cloud First will become a strategy for many SMEs. The acceleration of the cloud is partly driven by the security question posed above. Mostly, SMEs will be driven towards a more sustainable, environmentally friendly solution. The government already have a Cloud First policy, driven by the requirement to be more efficient.

3) Connection is King. In 2016 I think businesses will start to realise that connectivity is the key to success, be it broadband connectivity or systems integration. Businesses which don’t already operate integrated systems will be looking for a way to get their systems “talking”. Older, legacy systems which are particularly unyielding will be binned in favour of more fluid software structures.

4) Convergence of Digital and Physical. The automation of processes will herald a rise in things such as digital assistants and algorithmically driven agents. People might find themselves being managed by an electronic supervisor. Duties such as measurement and management of incentives can easily be programmed these days and will eventually be tasks delegated to software.

Written by Paul Tindal – Director Cofficient

Paul Tindal has been implementing NetSuite for over 13 years. To speak to someone at Cofficient about how you can run your business more efficiently, get in touch